RNC Chairman Reince Priebus slammed a dark-money network of wealthy left-wing donors on Wednesday for helping to fund an effort to pack one of the nation’s most influential courts with progressive judges.
Priebus was responding to a recent Washington Free Beacon report that revealed the American Constitution Society boasted about its leading role in filibuster reform during an April meeting with its donors in the secretive Democracy Alliance.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D., Nev.) used the "nuclear option" to push through filibuster reform last year, which allowed the Democratic majority to confirm several controversial progressive judge nominees over the objections of Senate Republicans.
Priebus called the Democracy Alliance’s financial involvement "reprehensible."
"The actions of this administration, Sen. Reid, and secret organizations like the Democracy Alliance and the ACS with which they partner, are reprehensible and have no place in our country," said Priebus in a statement. "The administration and Sen. Reid have hijacked the D.C. Circuit and have threatened the sanctity of the independent federal judiciary."
The RNC added that the D.C. circuit court, which could influence whether a consequential challenge to Obamacare subsidies will make it to the U.S. Supreme Court, is "now packed with a majority of liberal judges, who will make rulings on the constitutionality of key issues such as Obamacare, Dodd-Frank, EPA regulations, immigration, and a host of other issues."
"The American people, Congress, and the media need to hold this administration, Sen. Reid, the Senate Democrats, and their ‘dark money’ allies accountable for playing politics with the American judiciary," said Priebus.